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Dzerzhinsky (to 1926)

Dzerzhinsky (to 1926). Leader of the Cheka Previously imprisoned in a Tsarist Prison. Lithuanian. Freed after February Revolution, became a Bolshevik. Formed Cheka in December 1917.

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Dzerzhinsky (to 1926)

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  1. Dzerzhinsky (to 1926) Leader of the Cheka Previously imprisoned in a Tsarist Prison. Lithuanian. Freed after February Revolution, became a Bolshevik. Formed Cheka in December 1917. Thousands of political prisoners who died at the hands of the Cheka. RED TERROR. Increased after assassination attempt of Lenin in 1918! Iron Felix! Still a statue to him

  2. Yagoda (1926-1936) • Ogpu to NKVD (from 1932) • Supervised arrest, trial and execution of Kamenev and Zinoviev. • Founder of the GULAG prison system. • Stalin disliked his approval of Bukharin. • Found guilty of treason, arrested and executed in 1937.

  3. Yezhov (1936-38) • Head of NKVD from 1936-38. A key figure in the purges – Red Army Officers, Old Bolsheviks, ordinary people. 12 million in labour camps by 1939. • Poison Dwarf. • Yezhovshchina – his era of terror. MASS TERROR 1937-38. Not called the ‘purges’. Called ‘1937’ by many! • Yezhov was blamed by Stalin for the excesses of the purges! • Executed in 1940 at the age of 41.

  4. Beria (1938-53) • Georgian native like Stalin. • Replaced Yezhov as head of NKVD. • Humiliated Yezhov in the same manner that Yezhov had done so to Yagoda. • Most influential and longest serving leader of the NKVD. • Began purging the NKVD. • Eased the purges in some respects but contined a focus on the army. • In charge of armaments during WWII using Gulag labour – and expanded this! In charge of developing nuclear bomb. • Sexual deviant! Personally a mass murderer.

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